Website ranks Oregon's Jeff Merkley as America's greenest senator

Will this be helpful to Sen. Jeff Merkley's reelection campaign in 2014 or not? The Daily Beast ranks Merkley as the third most environmentally minded member in Congress and the greenest senator.

The Oregon Democrat will certainly have the the strong support of the nation's environmental groups in 2014. On the other hand, winding up at the top of this list will certainly be a talking point against him in many corners of Oregon.

The Daily Beast, the website affiliated with Newsweek and run by Tina Brown, based its rankings both on vote ratings by the League of Conservation Voters and on what kind of contributions they've received. Merkley gets his high green rating in part because he's gotten almost nothing from mining and oil and gas industries.